a) Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a bracket for mounting drums, particularly of the tom-tom and snare types, consisting of a clamping member that grasp the top and bottom of the pre-existing rim of the drum. A shock absorbing material may be secured to a lower portion of the clamping member to provide additional support wherein the shock absorbing material rests against the drum shell without penetrating the drum shell. The support system, which facilitates easy and flexible attachment to various drum mounting arrangements, is secured to the drum rim by means of adjustable clamps.
b) Description of Related Art
Tom-tom and snare drums have generally been mounted for playing by one of two methods. First, a bracket is affixed to the bass drum and the other end of the bracket is mounted, usually by screws, to the middle of the shell of the tom-tom. This first method of mounting produces the undesirable result that vibration of the middle region of the shell of the drum is severely dampened due to the engagement of the relatively fixed support bearing the weight of the drum. Such dampening results in decreased loudness, tonal quality, and length of resonance. The second method of mounting the drums amounts to setting each drum on a separate stand similar to a snare drum stand and having three arms with upturned tips that cradle the drum. While this type of stand results in a desirable tonal quality, it has the disadvantage that the drums generally must be placed further from the drummer and require large amounts of space for positioning.
Previous alternative attempts for mounting drums are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,596,176, 3,780,613, 2,588,830 and 2,433,594. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,588,830 and 2,433,594, brackets are mounted to the drum lugs. There is, however, no provision for an easy clamping arrangement which is simply affixed to the rim of a drum and has a lower support member which rests on the drum shell as disclosed by the instant invention. Moreover, while U.S. Pat. No. 4,596,176 shows a means for clamping to a drum rim, the mounting arrangement of U.S. Pat. No. 4,596,176 induces undesirable stress in the drum body due to its semi-cylindrical support of the drum shell and is limited to drums of the tom-tom type only, as it fails to provide an additional support member resting against the drum shell. The arrangement taught by U.S. Pat. No. 4,596,176 further fails to teach the simplified clamping arrangement of the instant invention.